Antifreeze vent for pumps



Jan. 8, 1924. 1,480,068

C. C. HERRELL ANTIFREEZE VENT FOR PUMPS Filed Nov. 5 1922 Claude CTfie-rm I fill-m nu Patented Jan. 8, 1924.

UNITED STATES 1 eona Parent ormon.

CLAUDE C. HERRELL, OF VONA, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO CHARLIEH.

DAVIS AND ONE-FOURTH T0 wILLIi-iii o. DAVIS, Born or KIOWA, COLORADO.

ANTIFREEZE VENT PUMPS.

Application filed November accompanying drawings, and to the charactersof reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to pumps of the type employed in raising waterfrom deep wells or cisterns.

In the country and on ranches and farms generally the water for thehouse and for the stock is usually obtained from wells of varying depthby means of pumps operated by windmills .or gas engines. In the western.

part of this country where cattle raising is conducted on a large scale,the ranges are usually provided with wells and drinking tanks. Windmillsare employed to operate the pumps and automatic means is often providedfor the purpose of turning off the windmill when the tanks are full andfor turning them on again when'the tanks are partly emptied. Suchwatering stations may be located many miles from the ranch houses andare frequently left for several days and sometimes weeks without beingin spected.

In order to prevent the pumps from freezing in winter, it is customaryto provide a vent hole in the pump pipe sufliciently far below thesurface of the ground to insure that the water will not freeze. pumpstops for any reason, the water above the vent will automatically drainout of that portion of the pipes above the vent, thus preventingfreezing. The vents being left open while the pump operates permits acomparatively large amount of water to escape and therefore lowers theefficiency of the pump. Besides the large amount of water that ispermitted to flow out through the vent, the stream of vwater issuingtherefrom impinges on the side of the well and causes the same tocrumble and cave in, unless the well is cased, and even then damage isdone by the stream of water impinging on the walls thereof, as theconstant strain to When the 3, 1922. Serial No. 598,816.

which it is subjected causes the casing to fail and permits the streamto strike the earth sides and cause damage.

It is the object of this invention to provide a safety device for pumpshaving means that will close the drain vent when the pumps operate andopen the same when the pump stops. It is also my intention to so arrangethe' vent opening that the water issuing therefrom will strike the pipeof the pump and not the casing. I also desire to provide means whichwill prevent foreign matter which may be introduced'into the upper endof the pump from reaching the cylinder where it might become entangledin the valves and make it necessary to pull the pump.

I attain V the above objects and others which will appear as thedescription proceeds, by means of a construction which I will nowdescribe in detail, reference being had for this purpose to theaccompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a wellshowing a pump in place therein;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the base of a windmill tower and the pumphead, and shows how the wire controlling the vent can be connected tothe central lever of the windmill so as to secure automatic operation ofthe valve; and r Fig. 3 is a side elevation of my improved safetydevice, with parts thereof in section to better show the construction.

The same reference characters will be employed to designate the sameparts throughout the several views.

In the drawings I have shown a well 5 which may be of any depth and maybe either a dug well or one'that has been formed by a well drillingmachine. pump head 6 is put in place on a suitable platform 7. The usualpipes 8 extend from the pump head into the well and terminate near thebottom thereof in a strainer 9a A cylinder 10 of the usual type isconnected in the pipes at a point a short distance below the waterlevel. A sucker rod 11 connects the sucker within the cylinder 10 (notshown) with the end of the pump handle 12 in the ordinary man ner. A's'Iam employing an ordinary pump whose construction is well known, I shallnot describe the same in detail but shall limit my description to myimprovement. At a point sufiiciently far below the surface of the groundto insure that the temperature will never fall below the freezing pointof water, I connect in the line of pipe 8 my improved safety device,which consists of a tubular casing 13 to the ends of which I secure caps14 and 15, each of which has a central hub 16 which is internallythreaded so as to receive the threaded ends of pipes 8,

A strainer 17 is secured to a base member 18, which is threaded into theupper end of hub 16, as shown in Fig. 3, and the sucker rod 11 extendsthrough the center of the strainer in the manner shown. It is evidentthat the strainer will prevent stones or other foreign matter that mightaccidentally or otherwise be inserted into the upper end of pipes 8,from reaching the cylinder 10.

In the horizontal flange of the lower cap 14, I provide an opening intowhich I screw a tubular member 19 which serves as a drain or vent forthat portion of the pipes which is located above this point. If pipe 19were left open at all times, it is evident that a portion of the waterraised by the pump would escape and that as soon as the pump stoppedfunctioning the pipes above the vent wouldbecome drained. As a largequantity of water can escape through an opening of the size of the onein pipe 19, it is my intention to provide means for closing the samewhen the pump is operating and for opening it when the pump stops. Myvalve is made and operated as follows: A cartridge-like cap member 20 isslidably connected-to pipe 19 and is provided at its lower end with aflange 21 betweenwhich and the lower side of cap 14 a coil spring 22 isplaced. Coil spring 22 is compressed and tends to move the cap 20downwardly. A

ball 23 is carried in the lower end of cap 20 and is adapted to closepipe 19, whose lower end is chamfered to receive the same. An opening 24is provided in the cap 22 for the purpose of permitting the water toflow out in the direction of pipe 8. In order to be able to open andclose the valve, I connect to the flange 21 a wire 25, which passesthrough a suitable opening in the flange of cap 14 and extends to apoint above the surface of the ground, where, if the pump is handoperated, it is secured to 'a lever 26 pivoted to the pump head. Twopins 27 are provided and the end of the wire 25, which is formed into aloop 28, is hooked onto the upper one when the valve is to be closed andto the lower one when it is open. The wire 25 is preferably providedwith an en largement 29, which engages the upper edge of the fiange'ofcap 14 and limits the down ward movement of the cap 20. Where the pumpis operated by a Windmill, as indicated in Fig. 2, I connect the upperend of wire 25 to the lever, by means of which the wlndmill is throwninto and out of gear. When the mill is to operate, the lever 30 occupiesthe full line position, and when the mill is out of gear the lever 30 isin the dotted line position. A coil spring 31 connects the upper end ofwire 25 with the lever 30. The

wire 25 is connected to lever 30 in such a position that the valve canopen when the lever is in dotted line position and will be closed whenthe lever is in full line position. By the means just described, thevalve controlling the vent will automatically be closed when thewindmill is thrown into gear and'opened when the windmill is stopped,thus assuring the best efliciency of operation and that the pipes willalways be drained when the pump stops. By incorporating my valve in thepart containing the screen 17, I provide a unitary safety device thatcan be incorporated in the pipe line of any pump without changing thelatter in the least.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new is:

1. A safety device for pumps comprising a tubular section, a capthreadedly connected to each end thereof and adapted to connect saidtubular section to the pump pipe so that it will be incorporatedtherein, a vent in one of said caps, said vent having a tubular membersecured therein, a valve member slidably connected to said tubularmember, means carried by the valve member for closing the opening in thetubular member, a spring surrounding said tubular member and engagingthe valve member for holding the latter in open position and means formoving the valve member to closed position.

2. A safety device for pumps comprising in combination a tubularsection, a cap threadedly connected to each end of said section andadapted to connect said tubular section to the pump pipe so that it willbe incorporated therein, an opening extending through one of said caps,pipe in said opening, a tubular cap member slidably con nected to saidpipe, a ball carried by said cap member and adapted to close the end ofsaid pipe, a spring surrounding said cap member and having its endsabutting against said cap member and adjacent cap, where.-

.by the cap member is urged in a direction to open the pipe and meansconnected to said cap member for moving-the same against the tension ofthe 'springand for closing the pipe.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

CLAUDE C. HERRELL.

